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Sunday 22 June 2025
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Fourth Edition. Some sample entries appear below. Click here for the Introduction; here for what we mean by Science Fiction; here for the masthead; here for some Statistics; here for the Acknowledgments; here for the FAQ; here for advice on citations. Find entries via the search box above (more details here) or browse the menu categories in the grey bar at the top of this page.
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Forsyth, Frederick
(1938-2025) UK author who gained fame with his first novel, The Day of the Jackal (1971), and whose books are generally political thrillers. The Shepherd (1975 chap), however, is a sentimental Timeslip or ghost fantasy in which a pilot on Christmas Eve 1957 is saved from crashing by a World War Two pilot in an antique bomber: pilot and plane had been shot down on the Christmas Eve of 1943. ...
London
As the City at the heart of the British Empire (see Imperialism), London was long seen by UK speculative authors as bearing the brunt of whatever Disaster the future might bring. There are many proleptic post-imperial visions of London destroyed or depopulated, as in William Delisle Hay's ...
Fantasy Magazine
1. A variant title (December 1933 to January 1937) of the celebrated Fanzine or Amateur Magazine (which see) Science Fiction Digest, founded 1932, of which Julius Schwartz was one of the editors. This in turn had incorporated The Time Traveller, often regarded as the first true fanzine (January 1932 #1), which Schwartz had published ...
Thomas, Sue
(1951- ) UK author whose sf novel, Correspondence (1992), is a complexly crafted presentation of a range of interweaving material, with regard to which a number of correspondences can be contemplated. The protagonist, having been transformed into a Cyborg, has developed software which allows her interact directly with her audience in the telling of her fantasies; within the frame of this ...
Martin, Carl
Working name of Rodney Carl Martin Jr (1950- ), US software engineer and author, primarily of nonfiction as Rod Martin Jr [not listed below]. With John Dalmas he wrote Touch the Stars: Emergence (1983), in which US researchers developing a Faster Than Light drive allowing interstellar travel are opposed by Secret Masters who wish to keep humanity ...
Langford, David
(1953- ) UK author, critic, editor, publisher and sf fan, in the latter capacity recipient of 21 Hugo awards for fan writing – some of the best of his several hundred pieces are assembled as Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (coll 1992 chap US; much exp vt The Silence of the Langford 1996; exp 2015 ebook) as Dave Langford, edited by Ben Yalow – plus five Best Fanzine Hugos ...